Azzddine with Bill Laswell

Billed as Azzddine on the 2004 album Massafat (which is actually credited to Azzddine with Bill Laswell), Azzddine is Azzddine Ouhnine, a Moroccan oud player and composer based in Rabat. The Switzerland-based Barbarity label, which specializes in cross-cultural collaborations between African and European/American musicians, decided to produce a CD with him on the basis of a lo-fi recording of one of his live shows. On Massafat, Ouhnine's vocals, oud, and darbukka were combined with contributions by about a dozen other musicians on violins, keyboards, background singing, programming, and drums. The most noted of the additional players was bassist Bill Laswell, who contributed bass to eight of the 14 tracks, although he was initially asked just to play on one or two of the selections. The final product combines traditional Moroccan music with aspects of electronic dance music, rap, and dub reggae.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo